Crimes Legislation Amendment (Powers, Offences and Other Measures) Bill 2015 (CTH)
Wednesday 25 March 2015 @ 10.54 a.m. | Crime
The Crimes Legislation Amendment (Powers, Offences and Other Measures) Bill 2015 has been introduced into Federal Parliament on the 19 March 2015. The bill sets out to improve Commonwealth criminal justice arrangements in an attempt to toughen penalties for gun and drug related offences. This would be the second time the bill is introduced as it was earlier opposed in the Senate.
The Bill
The Bill sets out to overhaul the Federal criminal justice system in order to improve its operation and effectiveness. To this end, the Bill sets out to:
- amend the Criminal Code to introduce clarity to the war offence of outrages upon personal dignity in a non-international armed conflict;
- expand the definition of forced marriage in the Criminal Code to encompass persons incapable of understanding the concept of marriage as well as increase the penalty for forced marriage that is commensurate with slavery related offences;
- insert the concept of being ?knowingly concerned‘ in the commission of an offence as an additional form of secondary criminal liability in section 11.2 of the Criminal Code;
- introduce a five years imprisonment minimum sentence to the offence of firearms trafficking;
- amend the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (AML/CTF Act) to clarify and address enforceability issues and operational constraints identified by the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC);
- amend a variety of administrative inefficiencies with relation to federal offenders and also to allow the interstate transfer of federal prisoners to occur at a location other than a prison;
- amend the Australian Crime Commission Act 2002 to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Australian Crime Commission (ACC) special operations and investigations;
- amend the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POC Act) to increase penalties for failing to comply with a production order or with a notice to a financial institution in proceeds of crime investigations;
- introduce the concept of recklessness as a fault element for attempted serious drug related offences and also remove the ‘intent to manufacture’ element of the border controlled precursor offences in sections 307.11 and 307.13; and
- amend the Criminal Code to clarify the operation of the offence of bribing a foreign public official in Division 70.2. The amendment clarifies that proof of an intention to influence a particular foreign official is not required to establish the offence;
Tough Penalties on Gun Crime
Federal Minister for Justice, Michael Keenan, outlined that the Coalition Government is committed to the bill and tougher penalties for gun-related crime. He explains that the minimum sentence for gun related offences is a key part of the Australian Government’s commitment to pursue a strong and nationally consistent approach to gun crime.
The Member for Batman told the Parliament:
“…it is laid out in the Australian Labor Party’s national platform that it is the strongly-held view of my party that mandatory minimum sentencing is often discriminatory in practice …. So we oppose mandatory sentencing.”
However, Keenan insists that mandatory minimum sentences send a strong message that gun-related crime and violence will not be tolerated.
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